No post for June. It was a month of tears, heartbreaks, pain, and disappoinment.
But for the month of June, I finished reading the book Joyful Surrender by Elisabeth Elliot. I guess that was the book I needed that time. It was a good book companion going through the process of another surrender in my life.
There is nothing joyful in surrendering the fight to be with the one you love. Never in my entire existence thought of struggling to be with the one I love physically would come my way. I had this thought that it was something that could be won easily. Like as long you love each other, it will work out, and I am pretty sure it is going to be hard, but at the end of the day it is still going to work out.
I was never ready to give up. Though I had anxious thoughts, I always thought that if I stick with him through thick and thin, he will do the same too, and he did, but up to a certain level only. He wouldn't go down deep in the dirt with me, and I get him. I so get him that I tried so hard to convince him that we could make it through together physically, but he would not try it. And I still love him.
He was right it was a lot more complicated, but my simple mind saw it simple. It was simple for me.
Maybe he was right when he said everything was falling apart. On my side, I thought I was doing a good job trying to keep it together. I was breaking, falling apart, but I tried to stay in one piece to keep the relationship, to stay together physically, because distance, a long, long distance can bring loneliness in a relationship.
He decided to let me go and it was something I did not want him to do. I thought he would not want to be part from me, as much as I hated the idea. But he made his decision, and I did not have any to change that decision.
I decided to surrender in hope that it would give him peace and joy. In hope that God will open doors for us. My heart was breaking, is. My soul was torn apart, is. It was the hardest decision I made in my life, to let go. To leave him, and be thousands miles apart from each other
I miss him every single day. I miss him in moments I am happy and in moments I am sad. I love him. But God should come first, and I guess that's the part that I missed, we missed maybe. He was the center of my universe. He was my world. I thought us going to church was putting God in the center of our relationship. But I guess, there were times we didn't put God above our relationship. We let Him down. I always pray that God will be glorified in our relationship and I still do. I pray that God is glorified in this season of my life as I wait again and try to live a life of freedom, joy, and faith all through Him and in Him.
Joyful surrender is hard at the beginning of letting go of the battle you have been fighting for to win. It still hard and difficult during the process, loneliness is another constant battle I have to deal with. Only God can make it easy. If you let go, and let God.
Before the end of June, it was also a month of hope and new beginning. As what he said, hope keeps us going.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. ~Proverbs 3:5-6
This step is the part of self-publishing where you decide to have a print copy of your book. I have come upon this company that helps in printing self-published books. I am glad to find IngramSpark.
Now, here is the big question: Do you have a manuscript you want to print and an ISBN for your book? If your answer is yes, this might be the right time to try using IngramSpark.IngramSpark offers printing services. It is a company built by indie publishers, for indie publishers. Fully integrated print, digital, wholesale, and global distribution to help you publish like a pro.
You just have to prepare two (2) documents: a formatted manuscript and a full book cover.
1. Formatted Manuscript
For most of the books I self-published, the size I use is 8 by 5. I use Microsoft Word for the interior of the book or the manuscript itself.
2. Full Book Cover
The application I work with to make my book covers is Canva. The front, back cover, and spine are all created with Canva. Just make sure you use the template book covers for you have the right dimension. Since I use an 8 by 5 size for the interior, it is only right to have your book's front and back cover in the same size. On the other hand, the width of the spine depends on the number of pages of the book, and the height remains the same as the front and back covers.
To calculate the width of your book spine, you may use this tool from IngramSpark: Spine and Weight Calculator
Here’s a sample of the book I published on demand with IngramSpark. Behold! 😂
I hope this helps.
Self-publishing 101: How to apply ISBN for your self-published books from NLP online?
Thursday, May 8, 2025
Do you want to sell your books through a physical bookstore just like me?
As a self-published author, one of my dreams is to see my books in the shelves of many physical bookstores which seems like a pie in the sky for me before the boom of internet age. Right now, I can see light and hope for that dream. There are a lot of ways to make it possible and I am hoping and praying it will work.
But first, I needed that ISBN. So I did get it for my new book and good news just recently, I got approved of ISBNs for the book I have written entitled The Restless Mind. I got the ISBNs for ebook and print version and I did online.
The National Library of the Philippines (NLP) is the repository of the printed and recorded cultural heritage of the country and other intellectual, literary resources and information sources.MissionThe National Library of the Philippines is an ISO certified national repository of printed and recorded cultural heritage in the country that acquires, organizes, conserves, and preserves Filipiniana resources and provides equitable access to information resources on various platforms.VisionPremier national repository and gateway of knowledge, culture and innovation empowering Philippine society.
How to get ISBNs for your self-published books from NLP online?
1. First thing first, register as an author/writer with NBDB and here is how I did it:
Self-publishing 101: How to register as an Author/Writer with Philippine NBDB?
and you can do it too, just click the link.
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| The confirmation email I received from NBDB. |
2. Create an account on this website: https://web.nlp.gov.ph/isbn/
3. Prepare a document that contains the full book cover of the book/s and copyright page. Remember, make sure you follow the prescribed format of the NLP or else they will reject it, but you can still revise your application.
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| The proof of work I submitted for the ISBN application. |
4. Submit a request by clicking ISBN Application tab and filling out all the necessary information about your book and uploading the document.
You will receive an email verifying your application and it may take up to two business days to evaluate your application.
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| This is the email I received when my ISBN application has approved. |
I hope for your success in your ISBN application.
Self-publishing 101: How to register as an Author/Writer with Philippine NBDB?
Thursday, April 24, 2025
As a self-published author, I had a little desire of registering with NBDB. I thought the process was tedious so I decided to forego the idea of being a registered author despite free online registration the agency was offering. I thought I could not squeeze it in my busy schedule.
But these past few months, I got no more excuses not to consolidate documents required to be registered as an author in the date base National Book Development Board or NBDB. The best part is the whole registration process can be done online. Tada! Isn't that good news?
Another reason to pursue this author registration is for me to be able to apply for ISBNs of my books, since I also plan to sell my books in bookstores and they require ISBN on books to be sold at their store. There is going to be a separate blogpost on how to get ISBN for books, once I got my author registration certificate.
The enactment of Republic Act 8047, also known as the Book Publishing Industry Development Act, was a clear demonstration of the government's attention to the important role of books in nation building. The law created the National Book Development Board (NBDB) which is tasked primarily to formulate and implement a National Book Policy with a corresponding National Book Development Plan geared towards the development of the book publishing industry. The birth of the NBDB was a long struggle that started in 1998 in the halls of Congress by men who shared a vision and the desire to see the growth of the book publishing industry in the Philippines. That remarkable struggle ended on June 7, 1995 when His Excellency, President Fidel V. Ramos, signed into law Republic Act No. 8047, otherwise known as the Book Publishing Industry Development Act which created the National Book Development Board. RA 8047 repealed Executive Order 492, series of 1991, as amended, the law which created the Instructional Materials Development Center, under the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS).
How to register as an Author/Writer with Philippine NBDB? What are the requirements? How many days will it take to receive the author registration certificate? These were the same questions I had where started thinking about the process of the application.
Here is list the documents or requirements I needed to prepare:
1. One (1) valid government-issued ID. I submitted a copy of my passport.
2. Bionote. I limited my bionote to five (5) sentences, but I am sure you can write more than that. Here is a sample of my bionote for your referece.
3. List of Published and/or Unpublished Titles. There is a downloadable prescribed template by the NBDB that I had to fill out diligently and it looks like this:
4. Proof of Work. I consolidated the book covers and copyright of all my published books in Word document file. For my unpublished titles, I also put them together in a Word document file and most of my unpublished manuscript do not even reach twenty (20) pages, so I just put whatever I have. I saved the documents for my proof of work as PDF.
After I finalized all the requirements, I sent them to this email: registration@books.gov.ph. All the documents will undergo evaluation by the NBDB and it may take up to seven (7) days.
Please feel free to comment or send me a message if you have any clarification. This link will give you the full details of the registration process: NBDB E-Registration
Be a registered Author/Writer with Philippine NBDB and start your application now!
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